Nut-making machine.



Patented Nov. 29, 1910.

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J S HORrTMAN NUT MAKING MACHINE.

APPLIUATION FILED MAB,.13,1909.

. gym QMHMN 0 NY 0 m M a w M Q J. S. HORTMAN.

NUT MAKING MACHINE.

APPLIUATION FILED MARJS, 1909.

977,01 1. Patented Nov. 29, 1910.

nvem-ioz JACOB S. HORTMAN, OF WILKES-BARBIE, PENNSYLVANIA.

NUT-MAKING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 29, 1910.

Application filed March 13, 1909. Serial No. 483,241.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JACOB S. Hon'rMAN, citizen of the United States, residing at VVilkes-Barre, in the county of Luzerne and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Nut-Making Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to nut making machinery and particularly to a machine for making nut blanks, wherein a section of a bar of iron or steel is cut off, fed to suitable dies, is compressed in said dies into the shape of a many-sided blank, and while in this position has the bolt opening punched therethrough, the core formed by this punching operation being afterward expelled. To this end my machine has the following instrumentalities: a transversely operating cutter bar and carrier whereby a section of an iron or steel bar is cut off and carried to the blank forming machinery proper; a hollow fixed die in which the blank is forced by a plunger; an ejecting plunger within the hollow die between which and the feeding plunger the blank is compressed; a punch operating through the hollow die for punching the bolt opening through the nut, and

means for ejecting the nut from the hollow forming die and conducting it to any desired receptacle.

An embodiment of my invention'is shown in the following drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a plan view of my machine, parts thereof being in section; Fig. 2 is longitudinal section on line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a punch and operating yoke; Fig. 4 is a perspective viewof the ejector and its operating yoke; Fig. is a section on the line 55 of Fig. 2; Fig. is a section on the line G6 of Fig. 2; Fig. is a section on the line 77 of Fig. 2; and Figs. 8, 9, 10 and 11 are detail vertical sectional views along the axis of the forming die, showing the successive positions of the nut forming die, punch and ejector. Fig. 12 is a perspective view of the nut and blank carrying bar.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the same reference characters.

My machine is mounted upon a base plate 2 supporting at its middle the fixed transverse die carrying abutment 3 mounted in which is the hollow or tubular die to be later described. Extending rearward from the transverse abutment 8 are the vertical side walls 4 forming guides for the plunger and core ejecting yokes and heads, referred to hereafter. The walls et also form supports for the journal bearings 5 in which the transverse shaft 6 is journaled. The 0pposed end of the base 2 is also provided with the longitudinally extending side walls 7 which at their rear ends are provided with the journal boxes 8 for the support ofa transverse shaft 9. This shaft carries a gear wheel 10 which meshes with an intermediate gear 11 on a shaft 12 supported in suitable boxes upon the base 2. The intermediate gear wheel 11 also meshes with the gear wheel 13 on the shaft 6. Power may be applied to either of the shafts 6 or 9 or to the intermediate shaft 12, as desired.

As will be seen from Fig. 1, the inner ends of the walls 7 do not extend to the abutment- 3, but a transversely extending space is left between said walls before abutment 3 for the passage of the carrier bar 50, to be later. referred to. One of the walls 7 at its inner end is extended laterally, as at 14, to form a support for the rod which is to be cut up into nut blanks, said support having a shearing face. This extension of the wall 7 is cut away, as shown in Fig. 5, to form a seat for the support of this rod and is so shaped as to hold the rod firmly in position when the cutting bear moves inward to shear off a portion of the rod so held. Longitudinally extending on the upper face of the base 2, between the side walls 7 are the tracks 14*, and mounted to slide on these tracks is the head 15 which at its rear end is connected to a yoke 16 surrounding an eccentric 17 fast on the shaft 9. It will be seen that a rotation of the shaft 9, therefore, will act to reciprocate the head 15 between the side walls and along the tracks 14?. The sliding head 15 is held in position on the tracks 14 by the inwardly projecting guide plates 16, as shown in Fig. 7, which are attached in any suitable manner to the upper face of the walls 7.

The head 15 is recessed longitudinally, as at 17, for the reception of a many-sided compressing plunger 19 which is held rigidly in position within the recessed portion of the head by clamping collar 20 of any desired or suitable construction, this clamping collar holding the plunger 19 rigidly in position within the head so that the head and plunger move together, but permitting the free detachment of the plunger and the replacing of an old with a new one. The plunger 19 is tubular and carries within it an ejecting rod 21 which is relatively movable with relation to the plunger 19. The rod 21 projects beyond the plunger 19 and a spring 22 surrounds the rod and acts to force it inward into the barrel of the plun ger. A collar 23 on the rod, limits its movement into the plunber so that in its normal position the end of the rod 21 is conincidcnt with the inner end of the plunger, as shown in Fig. 2. It will be seen that the construction above described permits the rod 21 to be forced back into the plunger under pressure, while the spring urges the rod out- Wardly.

The abutment 3 carries a female die 24 which has in its center a passage of the shape of the exterior of the nut. This constitutes the forming die which when the nut blank is under compression, forces it into the shape of the completed nut. Longitudinally movable within the forming die is the compressing and ejecting plunger 25, which is tubular and extends rearward of the forming die 24, as later described. The plunger 25 con forms in shape to the interior of the fixed die 24, and of course, moves smoothly therethrough. Within the tubular interior of the plunger 25 moves the punch 26 by which the central bolt opening of the nut is formed. All these parts are clearly shown in Figs. 8, 9, l0 and 11.

It is necessary for the operation of my machine that the parts 25 and 26 shall move relatively to each other and relatively to the movement of the plunger 19. These movements are as follows: As the plunger 19 advances toward the die 24, the plunger 25 is retracted. This movement continues until the plunger 25 has been retracted to the amount equal to the thickness of the nut to be made. The rearward motion of the plun ger 25 is then stopped and the plunger 25 either advances, to some extent, toward the plunger 19, or is held stationary while the plunger 19 advances. the same result occurs with either of these movements. That is, the nut blank which has been forced into the die 24 is compressed between the plungers 19 and 25 and in its compression the metal of the blank is forced outward and into conformity with the interior surface of the forming die 24. As soon as the blank has been compressed and exteriorly formed, the punch 26 moves forward through the die 25 and into the feeding 1plunger, forcing a core out of the nut blan into the feeding plunger. The plunger 26 advances sufficiently to force the core into the central passage in the plunger 19, pushing the ejecting rod 21 rearward against the force of the spring 22. The nut has now It will be seen that been compressed and cored and it is neces sary to eject it. T 0 this end the plunger 25 is now moved forward, while the plunger 19 is retracted. This carries the completed nut blank out of the die 24 to the position as shown in Fig. 11, whereupon the nut blank drops downward. As soon as the blank has dropped, the spring 22 forces out the ejecting rod 21 and pushes the core out of the tubular plunger 19. This is likewise shown in Fig. 11. In order to accomplish these several movements, I mount the compressing and ejecting plunger 25 upon a sliding head, this head being provided with a yoke, and I also mount the punch 26 upon a like-head, also provided with ayoke, and so arrange these heads that they slide together between the guide walls 4, but are separately and relatively movable by certain eccentric arrangements 1 will now describe. Figs. 3 and 4 show perspective views of the punch and plunger carrying heads.

27 indicates the punch carrying head which is flat on its upper and lower faces and has a rearwardly extended portion 28 formed with a vertically extending yoke 29, this yoke having an opening through it of a gen erally rectangular shape, the outer lower corner of which, however, is rounded, as at 30. The forward end of the head 27 is cut out, as at 31, so as to form two spaced arms 32. The portion of the head between these arms is provided with a punch engaging clamp 33, having opposed lugs 34 provided with stud bolts 35, whereby the clamp 33 may be forced downward into engagement with the plunger 26, as shown plainly in Fig. While I have shown this manner of attaching the punch to the head 27, I do not wish to be limited to this, as it is obvious that I might use other means for accomplishing the same end. The lower face of the head 27 has a downwardly projecting block 27 formed integrally therewith, which is designed to extend down into a guide recess formed in the head carrying the ejecting plunger 25. The lower face of the head 36 may also be provided with longitudinal grooves 34 adapted to engage with raised tracks 35 formed on the bed so as to give a guided sliding engagement between the head 36 and the bed.

The head for carrying the ejecting and compressing plunger 25 is designated 36 and is shown in perspective in Fig. 4. This head is located beneath and immediately adjacent to the head 27 so that the two heads may slide upon each other. The head 36 is provided with the recess 37 in its middle which accommodates the downwardly projecting block 27*, the two sides 38 of the recess forming guide ways for the block 27*. The forward end of the block 37 has means for clamping and rigidly holding the compressing and ejecting plunger 25. The rear end of this plunger may be tubular in construction and inserted between two clamp sections 41, which are held to each other by bolts 42, or by any other suitable clamping means. The forward end of the plunger 25 forward of the clamp sections 40-41. is, as before explained, many-sided in correspondence with the peculiar form of the interior passage of the die 24. The rear end of the head 36 is formed with a yoke 42 of precisely similar shape to the yoke 29, this yoke being approximately rectangular in shape, but having the interior rounded corner 43. In order to provide for as much bearing surface as possible between the two heads 36 and 27, the rear portions of the head rearward of the yoke are laterally extended so that one yoke overlaps the other and bears upon the lateral extension of the other yoke. These laterally extending portions of the yoke are respectively designated by the numerals 44 and 45 and are illustrated plainly in Fig. 1.

Mounted upon the shaft 6, as shown in Fig. 2, are the cams 46 and 47 These cams are mounted side by side, but have different angular directions and are set with rather more than a quarter of a circle between their axes. The cam 46 engages with the yoke 42, while the cam 47 engages with the yoke 29 and hence rotation of the shaft 7, as will be obvious, will reciprocate the yokes. Because of the difference in the angular direction of the two cams, the two yokes will be I so reciprocated relative to each other as to produce the movements heretofore described of the punch and the ejecting plunger.

In order to provide means for cutting and feeding sections of a bar to the nut making mechanism, I provide the transversely reciprocating cutting and carrier bar 50, which is shown in perspective in Fig. 12. As shown in Fig. 12, one end of this bar 50 has an inclined face 51 so that the bar at its end is triangular in cross section. The upper face of the bar at about its middle, is provided with the upwardly extending cutting head 52, the inner face of which in the movement of the bar 50, shears a section of metal from the rod from which the nuts are to be made. The exterior end of the rod 50 is formed with downwardly projecting studs 58, two in number and spaced from each other and adapted to receive between them the end of a lever 54 which is pivoted at 55 to ears 56 projecting out from the side wall 4. The lever 54 at its other end is formed with the upwardly projecting stud 57, having thereon an anti-friction sleeve 58. Mounted upon the end of the shaft 6 is a cylinder 60 having therein a cam groove 61. One portion 62 of this cam groove extends circumferentially around the cylinder in practically the same plane. The remainder of the cam groove pitches quickly inward to the inner end of the cylinder. The portion 62 of the cam groove, therefore, engages with the roller 58 at the time the bar 50 is in its inward position, and the nut blank is being operated upon by dies and punches before referred to. The quick pitch of the cam groove, however, acts to quickly move in or out the cutting bar 50. This arrangement, therefore, provides for a quick inward movement of the cutting bar carrying the nut blank to the operating mechanism, a dwell while the nut blank is being operated upon, and a quick outward movement after the nut blank has been finished to provide for cutting another blank from the bar and the carrying it inward to be operated upon.

It will be seen that the peculiar shape of the yokes 29 and 42, in connection with the peculiar shape of the cams 46 and 47 and their relative adjustment to each other, provides for a retraction of the plunger 25 within the die 24 as the plunger 19 advances. It provides then for the plunger 25 being held rigidly from further retraction while the plunger 19 advances and compresses the nut, as before described, and during this period of rest on the part of the plunger 25, the mechanism provides for the advance of the punch 26 through the nut blank, as shown in Fig. 9, and the forcing of the core punched from the nut blank into the tubular plunger 19. It then provides for a retraction of the plunger 19 and simultaneously therewith for a retraction of the punch 26 and an advance of the surrounding ejector plunger 25 which acts, as shown in Fig. 11, to force the completed nut blank out of the die 24. At this period, as before explained, the spring 22 forces the plunger 21 forward and ejects the core contained within the tubular plunger 19. The completed nut blank, under these circumstances, falls downward, strikes against the inclined face 51 of the cutting and carrier bar 50 and the completed blank is carried away through a chute or other suitable passage formed in the base 2 in alinement with the bottom of the inclined face 51.

The operation of my invention will be obvious from what has gone before. It will be plain that the rotation of the shafts 6 and 9 causes a constant reciprocation of the head 15 and of the heads 27 and 36. The bar of iron 63 is supported on the rest or seat 14 and is fed forward by hand or any other desired manner. The bar 50 as it reciprocates, cuts o-lf a section of the metal bar 63 and the cutting head 52 carries this section inward and into alinement with the die 24. Immediately this section is in alinement with the die 24, the plunger 19 operates to force the section into the die 25. Once within the die 25, the section is compressed between the two plungers, until it takes the shape of the interior of the die. As soon as this shape is secured or simultaneously with the compressing operation, the punch operates to cut out the core, and innnediately upon the completion, the blank ejector operates and the completed nut blank is forced out and the core ejected, whereupon the cutter bar is again reciprocated to cut off a new section of rod and the operation is continued in the same manner. It will be plain that I do not wish to be limited to the exact time relation of the moving parts described. In other words, while the nut might be punched after the completion of the compressing operation, it is obvious that the core might be punched out simultaneously with this compression. It is obvious also that the punch might be retracted as the ejector is moved forward, or the punch might remain stationary after the core has been punched out of the nut blank and the ejector moved forward to eject the completed nut, or the punch might remain proj ected beyond the die 24 after having cut out the core of the nut blank, the ejector or plunger 25 being then advanced to the inner face of the abutment 3, and when the punch is withdrawn, strip the nut blank from the punch. Any or all of these different time relations I conceive to be within the purview of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is:

1. In a nut-making machine, a base, a transverse abutment mounted on the base, a female die mounted in said abutment, a tu bular ejecting and compressing plunger fit ting in and movable with relation to the die, a punch movable in the compressing plunger, superposed parallel horizontally disposed sliding heads to which the punch and ejecting plunger are respectively attached, vertically disposed parallel yokes carried by said heads, a shaft extending through said yokes, cams mounted on the shaft one in advance of the other and engaging said yokes, and means for holding a blank in the die while being compressed and for ejecting the core after the nut has been punched.

2. In mechanism of the class described, a base, a transverse fixed abutment mounted on the base, a female die carried thereon, a tubular compressing and ejecting plunger mounted within the female die, a punch mounted Within the compressing plunger, horizontally disposed sliding heads carrying the compressing plunger and punch respectively, said heads having a sliding engagement with each other, and each head having a vertical yoke, each head being recessed to receive the yoke of the other head, and permit its longitudinal movement,

uide Walls extending upwardly from the ass between which said heads are movable and by which they are guided, a shaft mounted on the base and extending through said yokes, oppositely mounted cams on the shaft engaging with the yokes to independently move the same, and means for holding a blank in the die while being compressed and for ejecting the core after the nut has been punched.

3. 1n mechanism of the class described, a base, a transverse abutment mounted on the base, a female die carried by said abutment, a tubular compressing and ejecting plunger mounted within the female die, a punch mounted within the compressing plunger, a horizontally disposed sliding head upon which the compressing plunger is mounted, said head having a recess rearward of 'the compressing plunger formed with parallel side walls, a sliding head supported upon said first-named sliding head and having a downward extension upon which said punch is mounted, said extension projecting into and fitting the recess in the first named sliding head, a yoke attached to each of the sliding heads, guide walls extending upwardly from the base between which said heads are movable and with which they have sliding engagement, mechanism engaging with said yokes to reciprocate said heads, a reciprocating feeding mechanism movable transversely in front of said fixed abutment, a slide mounted in front of said abutment and longitudinally reciprocable, a tubular plunger carried by the slide and movable into the female die, an ejecting rod within the plunger, and means for forcing the ejecting rod outwardly upon a rearward movement of the plunger.

4. In a nut-making machine, a base, a transverse fixed abutment mounted on the base, a female die carried thereon, a tubular compressing and ejecting plunger mounted within the die, a punch mounted within the compressing plunger, vertical yokes connected to the compressing plunger and the punch respectively, a shaft passing through said yokes, oppositely mounted cams on the shaft engaging with the yokes to independently move the same as the shaft rotates, means for holding a blank in place within the female die while being compressed by the compressing plunger, and means for feeding a blank into position before said die.

5. In a nut-making machine, a base, a transverse fixed abutment on the base, a female die carried by the abutment, a tubular compressing and ejecting plunger mounted within the female die, a punch disposed within the compressing plunger, sliding heads carrying the compressing plunger and punch respectively and having sliding engagement with each other, and common means for reciprocatin said heads, said heads having interengagmg portions acting to mutually guide the heads upon each other.

6. In mechanism of the class described, a base, a transverse abutment thereon, a female die carried by said abutment, compressing and ejecting plungers cooperatively engaging with said female die, a reciprocating cutting and feeding bar movable transversely in front of said fixed abutment, said bar having sliding engagement with opposed portions of the base on each side of the die carried by the abutment, said bar having a downwardly beveled forward end and an upwardly projecting cutting head located intermediate between one extremity of the bar and the beveled portion thereof.

7. In mechanism of the class described, a base, a transverse fixed abutment mounted on the base, a female die carried on the abutment, a tubular compressing and ejecting plunger movable within the female die, a punch located Within the compressing plunger, sliding horizontally disposed heads, one carrying the compression plunger and one the punch, and each having a vertically disposed yoke, said yokes being arranged side by side, the heads contacting with a slide on each other and each being recessed to receive the yoke of the other head, the side Walls of said recesses acting as guides to hold the heads in proper relative relation, guide walls on the base between which said heads slide, a transverse shaft mounted on the base and extending through both of said yokes, cams onthe shaft engaging said yokes, means for holding a blank in place Within the female die while being compressed by the compressing plunger, and means for feeding a blank into place before the die.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

JACOB S. HORTMAN. 

